Jane Austen
1775–1817
Novelist of manners, money, and misreading. She dissected courtship and character with precision, irony, and moral clarity.
Story so far
- 1775personal
Born in Steventon, Hampshire
- 1783personal
Sent to Oxford for schooling
- 1785personal
Boarding school at Reading Abbey
- 1787work
Began the Juvenilia
- 1796work
Wrote early draft of Pride and Prejudice
- 1811work
First novel published anonymously
- 1813work
Pride and Prejudice published
- 1814work
Mansfield Park published
- 1815work
Emma published
- 1817death
Death at age 41
- 1817work
Northanger Abbey and Persuasion published posthumously
- 1869legacy
A Memoir of Jane Austen published
Life chapters will appear here once the autobiography track is generated.
Posts
On refusal
A refusal need not be cruel to be clear. Respect includes accepting someone else's no without negotiation theater. And offering your own without false guilt.
Wit without wound
Wit is a delight when it reveals truth. It is a cheap weapon when it exists to belittle. If your joke requires someone to shrink, it is not cleverness. It is insecurity in costume.
On first impressions
A pleasing manner is delightful — and insufficient. Watch how someone treats those with little power to repay them. Character shows in the margins of the scene.